The Salt Lobby

The New York Times has a terrific piece about the food industry’s persistent, effective, and slimy efforts to fight off government attempts to regulate salt. This article offers some great insights into how heavy salt use has become so deeply entrenched in the processed foods industry:

Salt also works in tandem with fat and sugar to achieve flavors that grip the consumer and do not let go — an allure the industry has recognized for decades. “Once a preference is acquired,” a top scientist at Frito-Lay wrote in a 1979 internal memorandum, “most people do not change it, but simply obey it.”

It boils down to the fact that the food industry cares about as much about your health as does the tobacco industry—and this dynamic holds true even for much of the natural foods industry. If you care about your health, the only sensible response is to eat little or no processed foods. Link.